Sharing knowledge about what innovation works and what pitfalls to avoid will be critical to successfully addressing the collective challenges faced by our social care system. Our health and care system is asked to accelerate the adoption of innovation and work more efficiently. It's a national challenge that is playing out in all four nations but can only be successful with effective knowledge exchange.
On the back of our very successful knowledge sharing event in June, Aging2.0 UK is pleased to partner with the Connected Places Catapult Belfast Homes for Healthy Ageing (hfHA) and Derry-based e-CAREWELL to share valuable lessons learned from a health and care system that is already familiar in working together.
* The eCareWell project was launched by Prof Joan Condell at Ulster University to better understand how technology can meet the needs of carers and aid them in delivering the best possible services. eCareWell received funding from the UK Community Renewal Fund.
* The programme Connected Places Catapult Belfast HfHA project was set up to develop testbeds focused on the local challenge of social isolation and loneliness. Led by Ulster University with Age NI, The Citizen & Digital Innovation, Connected Health Innovation Centre, Markets Development Association, Public Health Agency NI, Queen’s University Belfast, and Health Innovation Research Alliance – the consortium has been working collaboratively with Connected Places Catapult and 10 businesses to test innovative solutions to overcome social isolation and loneliness among older adults in Northern Ireland.
We want to make the event as beneficial as possible for our wider Healthy Ageing community. If you are a:
* Local authorities: we expect to provide great take aways from peers already working closely with health authorities
* Start-ups/investors: we will share what older service users have told us what they really want
* Academics: we will share an overview of case studies focused on innovation to overcome social isolation and loneliness among older adults in Northern Ireland.
Belfast City Council
The Citizen & Digital Innovation
Age NI
Director
Eglington Community Care
Director
Ulster University
Research Associate
Deirdre Ferguson is an Innovation Broker with Belfast City Council’s City Innovation team. She has played a fundamental role in establishing the team and in developing the city’s ‘Urban Innovation’ framework which aims to harness digital innovation to address major urban challenges and nurture economic growth.
The team has secured over £10 million in public and private sector co-investment since its inception in 2017. This has supported a range of open innovation projects which Deirdre has led on, inspiring colleagues and city partners to work collaboratively to explore the potential of data and digital technologies to address societal challenges.
Deirdre has also played a pivotal role in gaining a place for Belfast within the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities’ Network which has provided £1 million funding to support the appointment and work of a Commissioner for Resilience for the city.
More recently she has supported the development of the Digital Innovation Pillar of the Belfast Region’s City Deal which will bring £120 million into the region over the next ten years. This funding will bring significant investments in data and connectivity alongside a series of challenge funds designed to encourage industry, universities and public policy makers to collaborate to grow our economy while at the same time tackling key urban challenges.
Deirdre and the team are currently working to develop a Smart District – focused on Belfast’s city centre. This will support the trialling, testing and deployment of digital solutions to support the city in addressing key challenges which include those related to urban healthy living. Deirdre is leading on exploratory work with colleagues to identify what this will look like and the key elements that need to be in place to support this ambition.
Dr Catherine McHugh is a Research Associate in Pilot Technologies at the Intelligent Systems Research Centre, Ulster University. Currently, she is working on the UK Community Renewal Fund eCareWell project as well as INTERREG funded Certification-D project. She was previously involved with Catapult Homes for Healthy Ageing programme. All of these projects involve digital technologies for healthy ageing within the community.
Catherine recently completed her PhD in data analytics applying statistical models and machine learning algorithms to predict the energy market.
She previously worked as a data analyst in clinical research.
Health Innovation Research Alliance -NI
Chief Executive
Ulster University and HIRANI
Professor of Intelligent Technologies
Design Age Institute
Director
Disclaimers: By registering for, or attending, this event, you are agreeing to the following: Photographs may be taken at the event and appear on social media. You are authorizing Aging2.0 to use your image, likeness and / or name on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, the Aging2.0 blog or other marketing materials in connection with the event. The organizers of this event, Aging2.0, and any of their employees, volunteers, members and representatives are not responsible for any injury, loss or damage of any kind sustained by any person while participating in this event.
